Denver and the West

Arapahoe will pay $30,000 to woman held for immigration authorities

Arapahoe County will pay $30,000 to a domestic-violence victim who was arrested after calling for help, then held for three days at the request of immigration authorities after a judge ordered her release, the ACLU of Colorado said Thursday.

The settlement comes as the ACLU was preparing to sue the county in the case of Claudia Valdez, 37, said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Valdez, who is from Mexico, is in the United States illegally.

Arapahoe, Denver and other Colorado counties have said they will no longer hold inmates at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement solely on the basis of undocumented status.

The move to refuse federal immigration holds follows federal court rulings in other states that a county sheriff's department is potentially liable for a Fourth Amendment violation if it holds someone in custody solely on the basis of an immigration detainer.

After reviewing recent federal rulings on holding prisoners for U.S. immigration authorities, the county has changed its policy, Arapahoe Sheriff David C. Walcher said.

But in July 2012, when Valdez was arrested, the county "believed the detainers were valid," Walcher said.

"Valdez was held over a weekend based on a detainer," he said. "We had done that for years. We try to be good partners with ICE."

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Faced with the ACLU's legal challenge, the county decided to settle the case to avoid the time and expense incurred in mounting a defense, Walcher said.

"When ICE asks a sheriff to hold a prisoner, the agency is essentially asking the sheriff to make a new arrest, and Colorado law just does not provide authority to sheriffs to make that arrest," Silverstein said.

ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer e-mailed the following statement:

"Although the local charge that led to her arrest and subsequent entry into deportation proceedings by ICE have since been dismissed, at the time ICE placed her in deportation proceedings she was considered an enforcement priority based on stated ICE policy. She also has two prior misdemeanor convictions from 2000 and 2001. She remains in deportation proceedings and will face an immigration judge."

Valdez called police in July 2012, when an argument with her husband turned physical.

After her husband admitted he was the aggressor, a judge ordered her release.

Valdez has lived in Colorado for 15 years, has three children who are citizens and has no criminal record. She is free on bond.

"ICE would have the public believe that it only targets serious criminals for deportation," Hans Meyer, an attorney working with the ACLU in the case, said in a news release. "The disturbing reality is that ICE uses its immigration detainer regime to perpetuate a deportation dragnet that targets upstanding people like Claudia Valdez ... who came into contact with the police only because she needed help."

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